The Madness Begins

This month, the Notre Dame campus will experience a new kind of dorm energy competition: Megawatt Madness will match up dorms in head-to-head competitions that rotate each week. The competition runs for three weeks, from Monday February 4th through February 24th, giving every dorm a good shot at being a winner.

“Each dorm gets to start over and play a new opponent each week, so the structure of the competition really keeps students engaged,” said Kate Christian, Vice President of GreeND, which is sponsoring the competition. “At the end of the competition, your dorm will have a menu of prizes to choose from if you’ve won one, two, or all three competitions. The more wins, the bigger the prize."

The grand prize options for three-time winners include a tour of the stadium for the entire dorm, a frozen yogurt party, and a movie night at Browning Cinema with the dorm’s choice of movie. The prize options for winners of two competitions include buy-one-get-one Chiplotle gift cards for the whole dorm, a replacement Energy Star refrigerator or oven for the dorm kitchen, and a new water bottle filling spigot for a water fountain. For winners of one competition, prize options include a gift card to the Huddle Mart candy wall and a pizza discount from a local store for a dorm event.

“I like that dorms are competing against other dorms from the same era because it really levels the playing field,” said Elizabeth Callam, Co-President of Students for Environmental Action, which is co-sponsoring the competition. “The brackets are also great because there are more winners and everyone is more motivated to save energy.”

“To see who you’re up against, go to green.nd.edu/madness and check out the brackets for each week,” explained Myles Robertson from the Office of Sustainability, which is also co-sponsoring the competition. “Be sure to check back regularly to see who’s ahead! The best part is that even if you lose one competition, you have a chance to redeem yourself the next week.”